Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device and a method for closing filled containers with a screw cap, for example, for closing filled containers without support rings with a screw cap in a beverage filling plant.
Related Art
In beverage filling plants, it is known to close containers that have been filled with the applicable fill product by means of a screw cap. The screw cap is lowered by means of a capping head from above onto the container that is to be filled, and at the same time is rotated. The threads of the screw cap thereby contact the threads disposed in the mouth area of the container, and by means of the application of the rotational movement the screw cap is screwed into the closed position.
The screw caps can be provided with so-called warranty bands, which are typically attached to the actual screw caps by thin material bridges, and which are designed such that they are torn off of the actual screw cap, or destroyed, when the screw cap is opened for the first time. In this manner, a consumer can determine whether the beverage container that he acquires is intact, or else has already been opened previously.
In conventional beverage filling plants, screw caps close containers that have a support ring. In order to counteract the torque that is exerted on the container by the screwing-on of the container closure, the support ring is usually retained in a neck guide by means of a spike plate, wherein the spike plate has upwardly directed teeth or spikes that engage the support ring of the container from below in order to counteract the torque of the screw cap.
In conventional beverage filling plants, when the capping process is completed, in order to discharge the containers, which are now provided with screw caps, from the neck guide and convey them to the downstream production steps, the containers are lifted out of the spikes of the neck guides via a transfer rail. The containers with their support rings thereby travel at high speed onto a fixed transfer rail, in order to release the support rings from engagement with the spikes and thereby enable the transfer of the filled and closed containers to a subsequent treatment station, for example via a discharge starwheel.
A new generation of containers has no support ring. These containers are also known as support ring-less bottles. These support ring-less bottles have only a security ring, with which the warranty band of a screw cap can interact such that the warranty band can continue to function.
The known lifting out of the filled and closed bottles by means of a fixed transfer rail can lead to wear or damage to the warranty band, which thereby comes into contact with the transfer rail.